“But As For You…”
A Christian pastor named Scott had a sweet tooth. His wife was going out to run some errands, and she knew that the chocolate chip cookies she’d just baked might disappear before she returned. To discourage her husband from getting into those cookies, she taped a Bible verse on them. It was 1 Corinthians 6:12, “I have the right to do anything, you say—but not everything is beneficial.”
When she returned, she found half the cookies gone and another verse, Proverbs 13:25 attached to the plate where they had resided. “The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.”
There was once a pastor out visiting his flock. He came to one home and knocked on the door several times but there seemed to be no one at home. He took one of his business cards, wrote Revelation 3:20 on the back, and stuck it in the door: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
The next Sunday morning the preacher’s card was found in the offering plate and under Revelation 3:20 someone had written Genesis 3:10. “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
It pays to know your Bible—if only to win arguments with your spouse or in case the preacher comes by when you are naked. So, lets dig in…
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
A few years ago, Connie bought me a new wallet for Christmas. Am I right guys, we can use a wallet until it literally falls apart before our very eyes. I’ve probably only had about four wallets my entire adult life. Anyway, when I was transferring things from the old to the new, I found old school pictures of my kids and grandkids, some black & white photos of my grandparents, and I discovered my draft card. Unless you’re my age or older you don’t know or have ever seen a draft card. When I turned 18, I was entered into the draft for the Vietnam war. If I remember correctly you were required to carry your card with you, hence it being in my old wallet. Thankfully, shortly after I was entered the draft ended.
I think I’m remembering this correctly but in our Post Office in my hometown, to recruit for the military, or maybe the civil service, there was a huge cardboard cut-out of Uncle Sam. He was wearing his patriotic garb and was pointing at you. And the caption said, “I want you!” [Elvis cut-out at my parents’ house]
Our text this morning begins with these words which is also the title for this message, “But as for you.” There is no doubt who Paul is writing to, in fact, a caption for this portion of the letter says, A Final Charge to Timothy. I believe that if Paul had been there in person he would have been pointing at Timothy just like Uncle Sam was pointing at me in our Post Office. I don’t know about you, but I can picture God saying that to me, “I want you!”
If you were here a couple of weeks ago you may remember that these were the last words we have from the Apostle Paul written to his young friend Timothy whom he had left in Ephesus to help the church there. Paul was in prison in Rome for the second time. The first time he was allowed visitors and could walk around town during the day accompanied by a guard. This time he was in prison, as we imagine prison, awaiting to be beheaded.
Surrounded by false teachers and the inevitable pressures of a growing ministry, Timothy could have easily abandoned his faith or modified his doctrine. Once again Paul counsels Timothy to look to his past and to hold to the basic teachings about Jesus that are eternally true. Just like Timothy, we are surrounded by false teachings, which is why we are a Global Methodist Church. But we must not allow society to distort or crowd out God’s eternal truth. We need to spend time every day reflecting on the foundation of our Christian faith found in God’s Word, which contains the great truths that build up your life.
In his book, Love Goes First, Pastor Andrew Forest, another presenter at our recent New Room Conference, writes: “American culture today has an overall rather negative view of Christianity. Christians who hold to traditional Christian beliefs will find themselves largely out of step with elite secular opinions. These cultural headwinds are blowing us farther apart and make reaching others more difficult.” He goes on to say that we as the church in the West face an unprecedented mission of reevangelizing a formerly Christian culture—a post-Christian culture.
Timothy became a Christian not because an evangelist preached a powerful sermon but because his mother and grandmother had taught him the holy Scriptures when he was a small child.
A young preacher just out of seminary was called to pastor a church in a college town. Most of the college professors were members of the church. As he thought about that cultured congregation, he became very intimidated in preparing his first sermon.
He called his dad, who was a wise and godly pastor, and said, “Dad, I’m having a hard time preparing my sermon. If I talk about geology, I will be looking at a Ph.D. in geology. If I talk about sociology, I will be staring at a Ph.D. in sociology. If I talk about philosophy, I will be facing a Ph. D. in philosophy. What do you think I should do?”
The wise godly father said, “Son, why don’t you just preach the Bible. They probably know very little about that.”
In my last appointment I was asked to preach a funeral for a young lady who died unexpectedly. There was even some talk about her ex-husband murdering her, and he was sitting in the front row on the day of the funeral. Anyway, one of my church members asked another what in the world I would say, and the answer was, “He’ll probably preach the Word.” It’s hard to miss the target when you have good material.
Paul writes to Timothy: “In the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.” You can sum up Paul’s advice with this statement: Preach the Word and reach the world.
Friends, it doesn’t matter what the editor of your local paper, your state representative, or even your neighbor thinks about your ministry. The only thing that matters is what God thinks about your ministry.
The Bible is one of if not the most influential book in human history, serving as the foundational text for Judaism and Christianity. It consists of 66 books written by over 40 authors over 1500 years. The Bible can seem daunting and confusing to navigate for many readers.
The Bible is one of the best-selling books of all time but is also one of the most shoplifted books of all time [Gideon Bibles]. Can you imagine shoplifting a Bible? Nearly 80% of Americans say the Bible is the most influential book in human history and 42% say reading the Bible is “very important” to them. Nonetheless, only 17% of Americans report reading the Bible daily and 45% say they rarely or never read it. Don’t worry, we’re not doing a survey today.
The whole Bible, God’s inspired Word, should be our standard for testing everything else that claims to be true. Because Scripture is all God breathed and trustworthy, we should read it and apply it to our lives. The Bible safeguards us against false teaching and guides us in how we should live. It remains our only source of knowledge about how we can be saved. God wants to show you truth and equip you to live for Him.
Some people believe the Bible is a collection of stories, fables, myths, and merely human ideas about God. The Bible, however, is given by God; the words are God’s words. Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed His person and plan to certain believers, who wrote down His message for His people through a process called inspiration. [2 Peter 1:20-21]
It was important for Timothy to preach the gospel so that the Christian faith could spread throughout the world. We believe in Christ today because people like Timothy were faithful in their mission. It is still vitally important for believers to carry out the mission of spreading the gospel, of planting seeds.
Paul encouraged Timothy, and us, to be prepared in season and out of season [all the time]. He exhorts us to always be ready to serve God in any situation, whether or not it is convenient. To be sensitive to the opportunities God gives you, and to take advantage of them.
In his daily message this week, Pastor John Ed Matheson wrote: “On October 14, 2024, NASA launched its Europa Clipper spaceship. The trip to Europa will take about seven years. Someone designed a triangular metal plate on which is inscribed ‘the best of humanity has to offer across the universe—science, technology, education, art, and math.’
“That is not an accurate description of humanity. It’s not the best we have to offer because it ignores the Bible. Your journey in life is more important than the Europa Clipper spaceship. All the knowledge and science and technology will never be a substitute for Biblical truth.
Don’t just add the Bible as an afterthought—make it the thing you most want to communicate to whoever is ‘out there.’”
Eastman First Methodist Church 